Chord Speaker Cable: Factory Termination Worth It?

[Timo]

Good evening

I will be upgrading my speaker cables -- and I am having my eye on Chord speaker cables. I now wonder about speaker termination. I certainly want to have banana plugs. Chord offers factory termination for £100, but my dealer suggested his "in-house" termination with Chord banana plugs for £48 -- a more economical solution. Does anybody have experience with Chord factory termination? Is it worth the extra money? It certainly looks neater.

Cheers!!

 

[Gazzip]

Good evening

I will be upgrading my speaker cables -- and I am having my eye on Chord speaker cables. I now wonder about speaker termination. I certainly want to have banana plugs. Chord offers factory termination for £100, but my dealer suggested his "in-house" termination with Chord banana plugs for £48 -- a more economical solution. Does anybody have experience with Chord factory termination? Is it worth the extra money? It certainly looks neater.

Cheers!!

Depends on the cable. If it's from their lower end range (Odyssey, Silverscreen etc.) then buy it unterminated and do it yourself. A set of solderable plugs will put you back a couple of quid, a metre of silver solder another couple of quid, and the same again for a couple of metres of cable shrink wrap (you need a hair dryer to make it shrink). That leaves you £42 for a soldering iron, which will cost you a tenner, and you trouser £32 instead of the hifi shop.

If the cables are higher end then pay Chord to do it.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Depends on the cable. If it's from their lower end range (Odyssey, Silverscreen etc.) then buy it unterminated and do it yourself. A set of solderable plugs will put you back a couple of quid, a metre of silver solder another couple of quid, and the same again for a couple of metres of cable shrink wrap (you need a hair dryer to make it shrink). That leaves you £42 for a soldering iron, which will cost you a tenner, and you trouser £32 instead of the hifi shop.

If the cables are higher end then pay Chord to do it.

Althought the store won't quite "trouser" £32 out of that...

 

[drummerman]

I go with what has been said. Its easy to terminate straightforward bundled copper speaker cables and as long as you get crimp or screw 'cold weld' fit connectors you don't even need a solder iron. You do a set in 10 to 15 minutes without rushing.

I tend to use silver plated connectors with copper bodies rather than the cheaper brass ones. Even so, you can terminate a set of leads for around £20 to £25 including shrink tubing. Cheaper if you use gold plated brass terminations.

Of course these companies make money out of it but if you can't or don't want to do it then that is not a bad solution.

Having said that, Chords quote of a hundred quid seem 'a bit' steep

 

[Gazzip]

Depends on the cable. If it's from their lower end range (Odyssey, Silverscreen etc.) then buy it unterminated and do it yourself. A set of solderable plugs will put you back a couple of quid, a metre of silver solder another couple of quid, and the same again for a couple of metres of cable shrink wrap (you need a hair dryer to make it shrink). That leaves you £42 for a soldering iron, which will cost you a tenner, and you trouser £32 instead of the hifi shop.

If the cables are higher end then pay Chord to do it.

Althought the store won't quite "trouser" £32 out of that...

You are right. The store will already own a soldering iron so they will trouser £42. Nothing wrong with that as everybody is entitled to earn a living.

 

[jjbomber]

You are right. The store will already own a soldering iron so they will trouser £42. Nothing wrong with that as everybody is entitled to earn a living.

Apart from that is £35 + VAT. Out of that net figure comes Income Tax and National Insurance or Corporation Tax. The shop is giving a service more than making a living.

 

[Frank Harvey]

If we are talking purely labour, how much work can you get out of a carpenter or plumber for less than £50? Let's not forget the preparation of the cables beforehand, plus the electric provided for a decent quality soldering iron. And some cables need a particularly tool to strip back (like Chord Epic with its metal braid).

If someone buys cables from me, termination is included in the price - particularly if buying solder type plugs.

 

[Gazzip]

You are right. The store will already own a soldering iron so they will trouser £42. Nothing wrong with that as everybody is entitled to earn a living.

Apart from that is £35 + VAT. Out of that net figure comes Income Tax and National Insurance or Corporation Tax. The shop is giving a service more than making a living.

I think we need to qualify that statement with a bit of maths. Based upon a charge of £48 for terminating a pair of cables, which was the dealer price as quoted by the OP:

If an employee is doing the work then PAYE and NI come off their basic salary, they are not on top, and the ENIC and pension contribution is all the employer would have to pay above and beyond that employee's salary. So if an employee on £12/h (£28K PA) is doing the work then his 15 minutes of his time will cost the dealer £3.00 + 13.8% ENICS = £3.41. Add 1% employers pension contribution and we are at £3.44. Add the cost of sales (materials) of say £4 for a dealer and you are at £7.44. Deduct that from the pre-VAT charge for the service of £40 (£48 - 20%) and the dealer has £32.56 in his hand. Then apply the rule of thirds to generate an overhead (premises, heating, advertising etc.) and we have a final, pre-corporation tax figure of £21.70. Apply 20% corporation tax and the dealer has £17.37 (£69.46 per hour) in his dividend pot for 15 minutes of sitting on his 'rse while somebody else did the work.

Now obvioulsy the dealer is not doing cable terminations at the rate of four an hour ad infinitum, so you cannot simply pro-rata £69.46/h up to an annual earning figure of £162,500 PA, but don't tell me he is only providing a service and not earning a living out of doing stuff like that. The notion is frankly laughable.

Now I need to work out how much my business lost in the time it took me to write all of the above. Where's my calculator...

 

[Andrewjvt]

You are right. The store will already own a soldering iron so they will trouser £42. Nothing wrong with that as everybody is entitled to earn a living.

Apart from that is £35 + VAT. Out of that net figure comes Income Tax and National Insurance or Corporation Tax. The shop is giving a service more than making a living.

I think we need to qualify that statement with a bit of maths. Based upon a charge of £48 for terminating a pair of cables, which was the dealer price as quoted by the OP:

If an employee is doing the work then PAYE and NI come off their basic salary, they are not on top, and the ENIC and pension contribution is all the employer would have to pay above and beyond that employee's salary. So if an employee on £12/h (£28K PA) is doing the work then his 15 minutes of his time will cost the dealer £3.00 + 13.8% ENICS =  £3.41. Add 1% employers pension contribution and we are at £3.44. Add the cost of sales (materials) of say £4 for a dealer and you are at £7.44. Deduct that from the pre-VAT charge for the service of £40 (£48 - 20%) and the dealer has £32.56 in his hand. Then apply the rule of thirds to generate an overhead (premises, heating, advertising etc.) and we have a final, pre-corporation tax figure of £21.70. Apply 20% corporation tax and the dealer has £17.37 (£69.46 per hour) in his dividend pot for 15 minutes of sitting on his 'rse while somebody else did the work.

Now obvioulsy the dealer is not doing cable terminations at the rate of four an hour ad infinitum, so you cannot simply pro-rata £69.46/h up to an annual earning figure of £162,500 PA, but don't tell me he is only providing a service and not earning a living out of doing stuff like that. The notion is frankly laughable.

Now I need to work out how much my business lost in the time it took me to write all of the above. Where's my calculator...

Please dont go to all that effort explaining....
Rather give N.E.R.D hotline a call. They will totally get where you are comming from. Call before 13h00 friday as they are closing early for the annual Star Trek convention.

 

[Gazzip]

You are right. The store will already own a soldering iron so they will trouser £42. Nothing wrong with that as everybody is entitled to earn a living.

Apart from that is £35 + VAT. Out of that net figure comes Income Tax and National Insurance or Corporation Tax. The shop is giving a service more than making a living.

I think we need to qualify that statement with a bit of maths. Based upon a charge of £48 for terminating a pair of cables, which was the dealer price as quoted by the OP:

If an employee is doing the work then PAYE and NI come off their basic salary, they are not on top, and the ENIC and pension contribution is all the employer would have to pay above and beyond that employee's salary. So if an employee on £12/h (£28K PA) is doing the work then his 15 minutes of his time will cost the dealer £3.00 + 13.8% ENICS = £3.41. Add 1% employers pension contribution and we are at £3.44. Add the cost of sales (materials) of say £4 for a dealer and you are at £7.44. Deduct that from the pre-VAT charge for the service of £40 (£48 - 20%) and the dealer has £32.56 in his hand. Then apply the rule of thirds to generate an overhead (premises, heating, advertising etc.) and we have a final, pre-corporation tax figure of £21.70. Apply 20% corporation tax and the dealer has £17.37 (£69.46 per hour) in his dividend pot for 15 minutes of sitting on his 'rse while somebody else did the work.

Now obvioulsy the dealer is not doing cable terminations at the rate of four an hour ad infinitum, so you cannot simply pro-rata £69.46/h up to an annual earning figure of £162,500 PA, but don't tell me he is only providing a service and not earning a living out of doing stuff like that. The notion is frankly laughable.

Now I need to work out how much my business lost in the time it took me to write all of the above. Where's my calculator...

Please dont go to all that effort explaining.... Rather give N.E.R.D hotline a call. They will totally get where you are comming from. Call before 13h00 friday as they are closing early for the annual Star Trek convention.

Sorry. Just trying to avoid a load of speaker terminations I need to do... *biggrin*

 

[Andrewjvt]

You are right. The store will already own a soldering iron so they will trouser £42. Nothing wrong with that as everybody is entitled to earn a living.

Apart from that is £35 + VAT. Out of that net figure comes Income Tax and National Insurance or Corporation Tax. The shop is giving a service more than making a living.

I think we need to qualify that statement with a bit of maths. Based upon a charge of £48 for terminating a pair of cables, which was the dealer price as quoted by the OP:

If an employee is doing the work then PAYE and NI come off their basic salary, they are not on top, and the ENIC and pension contribution is all the employer would have to pay above and beyond that employee's salary. So if an employee on £12/h (£28K PA) is doing the work then his 15 minutes of his time will cost the dealer £3.00 + 13.8% ENICS =  £3.41. Add 1% employers pension contribution and we are at £3.44. Add the cost of sales (materials) of say £4 for a dealer and you are at £7.44. Deduct that from the pre-VAT charge for the service of £40 (£48 - 20%) and the dealer has £32.56 in his hand. Then apply the rule of thirds to generate an overhead (premises, heating, advertising etc.) and we have a final, pre-corporation tax figure of £21.70. Apply 20% corporation tax and the dealer has £17.37 (£69.46 per hour) in his dividend pot for 15 minutes of sitting on his 'rse while somebody else did the work.

Now obvioulsy the dealer is not doing cable terminations at the rate of four an hour ad infinitum, so you cannot simply pro-rata £69.46/h up to an annual earning figure of £162,500 PA, but don't tell me he is only providing a service and not earning a living out of doing stuff like that. The notion is frankly laughable.

Now I need to work out how much my business lost in the time it took me to write all of the above. Where's my calculator...

Please dont go to all that effort explaining.... Rather give N.E.R.D hotline a call. They will totally get where you are comming from. Call before 13h00 friday as they are closing early for the annual Star Trek convention.

Sorry. Just trying to avoid a load of speaker terminations I need to do... *biggrin*

Hahahah

 

[Frank Harvey]

All this about making some cables up?!

Good evening

I will be upgrading my speaker cables -- and I am having my eye on Chord speaker cables. I now wonder about speaker termination. I certainly want to have banana plugs. Chord offers factory termination for £100, but my dealer suggested his "in-house" termination with Chord banana plugs for £48 -- a more economical solution. Does anybody have experience with Chord factory termination? Is it worth the extra money? It certainly looks neater.

Cheers!!

To put it simply, everyone has different ideas of what "value for money" is. Do YOU think it is worth £100 termination fee for someone to do it neatly for you? Or £48? Would YOU rather have someone did it for you, or do you want to spend the time doing it yourself? Only you can decide - everyone else can only out doubts or ideas in your head.

Just to add, buying the cable is just the cable. If the termination costs asked include the plugs (which don't come with the associated shrink wrap bits and bobs) then the cost of those need to be factored in. And the 8 plugs needed don't amount to a "few quid"on the dealer's part.

 

[Gazzip]

All this about making some cables up?!

Good evening

I will be upgrading my speaker cables -- and I am having my eye on Chord speaker cables. I now wonder about speaker termination. I certainly want to have banana plugs. Chord offers factory termination for £100, but my dealer suggested his "in-house" termination with Chord banana plugs for £48 -- a more economical solution. Does anybody have experience with Chord factory termination? Is it worth the extra money? It certainly looks neater.

Cheers!!

To put it simply, everyone has different ideas of what "value for money" is. Do YOU think it is worth £100 termination fee for someone to do it neatly for you? Or £48? Would YOU rather have someone did it for you, or do you want to spend the time doing it yourself? Only you can decide - everyone else can only out doubts or ideas in your head.

Just to add, buying the cable is just the cable. If the termination costs asked include the plugs (which don't come with the associated shrink wrap bits and bobs) then the cost of those need to be factored in. And the 8 plugs needed don't amount to a "few quid"on the dealer's part.

David, I (and I don't think anybody else on here) begrudges a hifi dealer earning a living. It would obviously be cheaper for the OP to terminate the cables himself, but I for one do not think that £48 is a great deal of money for a professional to charge for termination. I do however take umbrage at being told there is no profit in it and that £48 is pretty much at cost. It is not at cost, but why should it be. As I stated before you guys have to earn a living.

 

[drummerman]

Something like QED's Revelation is a PITA to terminate and I don't envy anyone having to do it (properly).

You also need a 'special' crimper if using QED Airlock plugs.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Something like QED's Revelation is a PITA to terminate and I don't envy anyone having to do it (properly).

You also need a 'special' crimper if using QED Airlock plugs.

Agreed. Ever tried terminating Genesis? I once had to do a bi-wired pair which took a day and a half...never again!

 

[mond]

I would probably go for the dealer option as cheaper than the factory and if the OP wanted to do it himself he wouldn't be asking which is better value but where to buy a decent soldering iron

 

[Frank Harvey]

David, I (and I don't think anybody else on here) begrudges a hifi dealer earning a living. It would obviously be cheaper for the OP to terminate the cables himself, but I for one do not think that £48 is a great deal of money for a professional to charge for termination. I do however take umbrage at being told there is no profit in it and that £48 is pretty much at cost. It is not at cost, but why should it be. As I stated before you guys have to earn a living.

I'm not implying there was no profit, just less than some people think sometimes. I take umbrage when people pay their commiserations on forums when a dealer closes down (who they probably didn't support anyway), and then complain because they've got nowhere local to audition equipment - use or abuse them, it's the difference between them being able to trade or not be able to trade.

 

[Gazzip]

David, I (and I don't think anybody else on here) begrudges a hifi dealer earning a living. It would obviously be cheaper for the OP to terminate the cables himself, but I for one do not think that £48 is a great deal of money for a professional to charge for termination. I do however take umbrage at being told there is no profit in it and that £48 is pretty much at cost. It is not at cost, but why should it be. As I stated before you guys have to earn a living.

I'm not implying there was no profit, just less than some people think sometimes. I take umbrage when people pay their commiserations on forums when a dealer closes down (who they probably didn't support anyway), and then complain because they've got nowhere local to audition equipment - use or abuse them, it's the difference between them being able to trade or not be able to trade.

I couldn't agree more. I am not suggesting for a second that dealers where you can go and listen to kit befre buyng it aren't an important and integral part of this hobby we all enjoy. I love you guys. I was just suggesting that the OP could terminate cables cheaper himself if he wanted to.

You will be pleased to hear that I atleast buy nearly all of my equipment, both new and used, from real dealers who have listening rooms etc.. We usually cut a deal and both walk away happy. I have ongoing relationships with Fanthorpes, Jordan Acoustics, Guildford Audio etc. because they make me feel like my custom and my audio happiness matter to them. They go that extra mile to make sure I get to where I want to be, something you don't get buying everything off the web!

In terms of big ticket items I only purchase unbelievable sales bargains/end of line from the internet, and stuff like the Jitterbug I buy from Amazon because it is easy and I have Prime so postage is "free"...

 

[Timo]

Hi guys, the dealer's "in-house" termination for £48 includes Chord banana plugs. £48 is actually the RRP for these plugs. So I think it's a fair price.

I rather wondered about Chord factory termination -- is it any good and worth the additional money? DavidF, have you seen Chord's termination? Are there any advantages of factory-termination as compared to so-called "after-market solution" (chunkier plugs screwed on; not the slim ones they put on in the factory)?

Cheers!

 

[Timo]

Thanks David -- much appreciated. I might then go for Chord's factory termination to be on the safe side. I am thinking about Chord Shawline or possibly even Epic Twin for my new PMC 25.23.

 

[Andrewjvt]

Thanks David -- much appreciated. I might then go for Chord's factory termination to be on the safe side. I am thinking about Chord Shawline or possibly even Epic Twin for my new PMC 25.23.

 

From David
Hes a chord company authorised dealer.
Highly recomended

 

[Frank Harvey]

Hi guys, the dealer's "in-house" termination for £48 includes Chord banana plugs. £48 is actually the RRP for these plugs. So I think it's a fair price.

I rather wondered about Chord factory termination -- is it any good and worth the additional money? DavidF, have you seen Chord's termination? Are there any advantages of factory-termination as compared to so-called "after-market solution" (chunkier plugs screwed on; not the slim ones they put on in the factory)?

Cheers!

If it's not something you want to undertake yourself, I would usually recommend Chord's own termination for the trickier, higher priced cables (usually piece of mind for those spending a fair bit of oney), or the dealer's (if they offer it) for the budget to mid priced cables. Obviously Chord's own will be immaculately done - dealer's efforts will depend on the competency of the staff member doing it - I've seen some pig's ears in my time! But at least, either way, you can have them redo it if it doesn't look like the pics (which it should do). After all, you're paying for it.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi Timo

What speaker cables are you using please?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Deliriumbassist]

Hi guys, the dealer's "in-house" termination for £48 includes Chord banana plugs. £48 is actually the RRP for these plugs. So I think it's a fair price.

I rather wondered about Chord factory termination -- is it any good and worth the additional money? DavidF, have you seen Chord's termination? Are there any advantages of factory-termination as compared to so-called "after-market solution" (chunkier plugs screwed on; not the slim ones they put on in the factory)?

Cheers!

If it's not something you want to undertake yourself, I would usually recommend Chord's own termination for the trickier, higher priced cables (usually piece of mind for those spending a fair bit of oney), or the dealer's (if they offer it) for the budget to mid priced cables. Obviously Chord's own will be immaculately done - dealer's efforts will depend on the competency of the staff member doing it - I've seen some pig's ears in my time! But at least, either way, you can have them redo it if it doesn't look like the pics (which it should do). After all, you're paying for it.

I'd agree with this, having been to Chord and used their equipment, as well as seeing some ex-colleagues "attempts" back when I was in retail. In regards to an earlier post, David, I've never terminated Genesis... thought Ruby Anniversary was bad enough!

 

[manicm]

I'm shocked no one picked up that the 100 quid Chord on their own site wants to charge is a mistake?

Please do yourselves a favour and go to futureshop.co.uk. I've bought from them.